


The Dinosaur

by CallMeMilady (fairegirl22)



Series: Love Jumps into the Mouth of a Dinosaur [5]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Universe - Childhood Friends, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/M, Yes its the one with the title of the series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-04
Updated: 2017-12-04
Packaged: 2019-02-10 10:35:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12910119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fairegirl22/pseuds/CallMeMilady
Summary: Miscommunication leads to messy situations.





	The Dinosaur

The first few weeks of school weren’t going as great as Adrien wanted it to. He wanted to be friends with Marinette again, after almost a year since his mom left and he fought with her, he spent a lot of time alone. Or maybe not ‘alone,’ but his only other friend was Chloe. Adrien had hoped after he finally convinced his dad to let him go to public school that he wouldn’t be lonely anymore. Which was true -- he found a good friend in Nino who cared for him enough to be upset that his father wouldn’t allow for a birthday party.

It was his first birthday in his entire life that he didn’t spend with Marinette and go to Disneyland Paris with her and his parents. That day was spent in depressed solitude until Nino, as the Akuma - Bubbler, threw him a birthday party with all of his classmates. The sentiment was nice, but as Chat Noir he had the responsibility to set things right. Still, he got to see his lady on his birthday, and that was a treat.

Adrien was disappointed that Marinette wasn’t at the party, they hadn’t talked since his first day at school when he tried to scrape gum off her seat and she gave him a scathing look. He had tried to explain and apologize, but he didn’t know how. Their fight left them in a state where a simple misunderstanding just increased the weird tension between them. Things had changed and Adrien wasn’t confident where his relationship stood with Marinette now, he hoped they would still be friends.

He had to get Marinette to see his point, how soulmates don’t have to end up in romantic relationships with each other. It’s uncommon for soulmates to be in platonic relationships, but it does happen. So when he found out that Nino had a crush on Marinette, he saw the perfect opportunity.

Adrien found Nino hiding behind the lockers and staring at Marinette and Alya. “If you never tell Marinette you like her, she’ll never know,” he said with an amused smile.

Nino jumped at the sound of his voice and spun to face Adrien. “I can’t do that, how would I even do that? It’s not like I can ask her to go out with me? Where would I even take her?”

Adrien laughed, “Why are you so nervous? It’s just a girl, just talk to her and be yourself.”

He glanced over his shoulder and smiled hopefully at Marinette who was standing by the staircase with Alya. Nino looked back at Adrien,“It’s easy for you to say. Be yourself.” He scoffed. “You’re literally a model, on every fashion magazine. You can easily talk to any girl, but for me it’s so much harder!”

“Marinette is in magazines sometimes, too,” Adrien mentioned unhelpfully, only realizing how more panicked that made Nino when his friend crouched down and put his head in his hands.

“I forgot about that,” Nino moaned. “She’s a model and a fashion designer who has been in fashion magazines all around the world. How do I even talk to her?”

Adrien reached down to pull Nino back up to a standing position. “She’s just a normal person Nino. She’s not hard to talk to.”

“You don’t talk to her,” Nino recalled suddenly. He tilted his head, “Marinette works with your dad right? Why don’t you two talk?”

Adrien’s smile froze slightly before he redirected Nino to the task at hand. “We can discuss that later, but right now you need to go ask her out.”

Nino bit his lip, “Right now, right now? I don’t even know how to ask her.” Nino’s eyes widened, “What if she says no? What do I do then?”

Adrien clapped his friend’s shoulder. “If you want, I can come with you and help.”

Nino sighed in relief, “You will? Thank you.” Adrien began to push him towards the girls.

Alya and Marinette were walking towards them to the exit of the school. Marinette was looking down at a magazine with a pen in hand, distractedly bumping into Nino, causing her to drop what she was holding. “Oh, sorry!” She said looking up at him.

Nino was awkwardly smiling and nodded at Marinette’s apology. Adrien reached down to help pick up the magazine while Marinette picked up her pen that rolled away. He saw that she was looking at the latest Agreste Fashion spread and noticed post-its with her handwritten notes on them. He became a little nostalgic looking at it, remembering all the times Mariette would scour over fashion magazines writing notes and critiques while he was doing his homework.

“Thanks,” Marinette said as she took the magazine from Adrien’s offering hand.

Adrien looked over at his friend and saw that he was too nervous to say anything so he began to prompt him. “Sorry for bumping into you, how can we make it up to you? Nino, any suggestions?” He snapped his fingers in front of his almost catatonic friend. “How about the zoo? I heard they got--” Adrien elbowed him.

“--Panthers.” Nino eyes seemed to focus back to reality. “They got a new panthers exhibit.”

“Oh cool,” Marinette said.

Alya smiled proudly, “Yeah I heard about that.”

“Do you want to go?” Adrien asked, directing the question to Marinette.

She looked a little shocked but nodded. “Yeah,” she said softly.

“Great, meet there at four tomorrow!” Adrien said as he dragged Nino away.

\--

Alya looked at Marinette with an eyebrow raised and her head tilted, “Girl what was that?” She teased. “I thought you didn’t like Adrien and now you’re going on a date with him?”

Marinette’s eyes widened at the word _date._ “It’s not a date,” she protested. “We’re just going to hang out. Why would you think I don’t like Adrien?” Her eyebrows knitted together in confusion as she held up the fashion magazine with Adrien’s face featured on it. Alya knows that she works with Adrien’s dad and has done photoshoots with him, so it’s strange to think that she would somehow think that Marinette doesn’t like Adrien. They might not be as close as they used to be, but they’re still soulmates.

Alya shrugged, “You never really looked at him or talked to him since he’s come here.” She pulled Marinette down to sit on the steps in front of the school. “Though some people in class think it’s because you have a crush on him.”

“A crush? No,” Marinette laughed nervously while playing with the pen in her hands and avoiding eye contact with Alya. “I don’t have a crush on him! It’s just- It’s just...” she tried to figure out how to explain the situation to Alya without revealing the soulmate bond because their parents still haven’t given them permission.

“Sure,” Alya dragged out. “And that’s why you’re not nervous about meeting him at the zoo later?”

Marinette bit her lip, “Well I am, but…” she sighed, “But I don’t know what will happen.” She looked at Alya with hope shining in her eyes. “I just want this to fix our friendship.”

Alya took a pause as she studied Marinette. “Wow, I really didn’t know that you were friends before.”

“Yeah,” she said softly as she looked at Adrien’s face in the magazine. Marinette inhaled a sharp breath as a sudden thought hit her. “I can’t do it, what if he’s there to say he never wants to see me again? What if he doesn’t want to do anything with me and the zoo is just a distraction for him to tell me goodbye forever?”

Alya shook her head as she gripped Marinette’s shoulders with both hands. “Mari, slow down. Everything will be fine.”

“Can you come with me?” Marinette pleaded. “Please?”

Alya sighed and moved her hands to hold Marinette’s. “If you need me there, I’m there.”

“Thank you!” Marinette threw her arms around Alya. But before her hands moved Marinette got a glance of Alya’s timer. When it dawned on her what she was saw, she gasped. “Alya, your timer!”

Alya smiled sheepishly. “Yeah, I’m going to meet my soulmate sometime tomorrow.”

“I’m so happy for you,” Marinette exclaimed as she hugged her friend tighter.

“Tomorrow’s going to be an interesting day for both of us.” Alya said.

\--

When tomorrow came, it was a nice sunny Saturday and Alya was nervous about meeting her soulmate. She was interested to see what happened with Marinette, especially when Nino showed up instead of Adrien. Alya’s jaw dropped when Nino admitted to having a crush on her and she threw her hands up when Marinette offered to set them up.

“Girl, I’m meeting my soulmate today! I can’t go on a date with _Nino._ He’s practically my _brother_!” Alya hissed into her phone.

She stuck her head through the opening of the tree she was hiding behind and glared at Marinette. She could see them sitting together and Nino was nervously bouncing his knee while rubbing his wrist. “You have to tell him it’s _not happening_ ,” Alya growled. “I am meeting my soulmate today and I don’t have time to deal with Nino’s crush on me.”

And then suddenly out of nowhere Kim and Max ran screaming towards Marinette and Nino with a hoard of zoo animals after them. Alya jumped out from behind the tree because knew she had to get to safety from Hawkmoth’s latest akuma. Her eyes lit up when she saw the familiar red and black polka dots of Ladybug’s suit. Distracted from seeing her hero, she tripped and was startled to find a gorilla running towards her. Ladybug helped her up only to push her into the panther’s empty cage nearby.

“Stay here, you’ll be safer inside,” Ladybug ordered as she swung her yo-yo and left.

Alya was so giddy but scolded herself for not using her phone to capture the moment for her blog. Then suddenly her timer was ringing loudly as Ladybug shoved Nino inside the same cage with the same directions she gave Alya.

The two of them looked wide-eyed at each other as the ringing continued. Nino slowly walked over to her and pressed his timer to hers to stop the ringing, then he smiled sheepishly.

“Hi,” he said, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

“Hi,” Alya said as she blinked, trying to process the fact that Nino was her soulmate. Nino, who minutes earlier, admitted to her best friend that he had a crush on her. “You have a crush on me?” Alya blurted out.

Nino looked startled at the question, “Um.” He scratched his head trying to figure out what to say. “Not really? How did Marinette tell you so quickly?”

Alya raised up her phone, “I was kind of listening in.”

“Oh, no wonder why Marinette was acting so weird.” Nino laughed and admitted, “I actually had a crush on her and Adrien helped me ask her out.”

“She thought she was going to meet Adrien and this the first step becoming friends again.” Alya said.

“Friends again?” Nino questioned as Alya nodded.

“Yeah I was confused too,” she shrugged. “I think there’s something up between them, but Mari won’t tell me.”

“Adrien won’t tell me either,” Nino said. They stood there in silence, not knowing what else to talk about when finding their soulmates other than gossiping about their best friends.

Outside the panther cage, Ladybug and Chat Noir were hard at work trying to defeat the akuma. With the car jack lucky charm in hand, Ladybug frowned as she stared at it, trying to figure out how to use it against the gigantic T-Rex. When the lightbulb lit up in her head, she grabbed Chat Noir’s tail before he could be eaten by animan and ran towards the dinosaur yelling, “Bon appétit, T-Rex!”

Chat Noir cried out as he saw Ladybug disappear. She can’t leave him, he needs her in his life as his partner, as his friend and girlfriend one day. _Girlfriend_. His breath got caught in his throat as he finally admitted to himself that he really liked Ladybug and maybe even loved her. He tried to ignore his feelings for her because he wanted to resolve his fight with Marinette first.

So he ignored the way his got lost in her beautiful blue-bell eyes and the glint in her eyes when she figures out how to use a lucky charm. And every time she defeats an akuma with a proud smile, he has overlook the way he could feel his heart melt.

He couldn’t fight it anymore. Not when he saw his love jump into the mouth of a dinosaur.

As all of these thoughts swirled through his mind, Chat Noir felt a sudden pain on his left wrist. It felt like his timer was burning and cold fear spread through his entire body. His timer was covered by the spandex of his suit but he didn’t need to see it to know Marinette was in trouble. His heart pounded as his worry increased for both Ladybug and Marinette. He had to help them, or at least the one he could get to the fastest.

Chat Noir took a deep breath and spun his staff, turning his concern into anger towards the akuma. He shoved the thought of Marinette to the side, he could worry about her later when he defeats the dinosaur who ate his partner.

Suddenly the dinosaur’s mouth opened up and Ladybug jumped out, leaving the car jack open in the T-rex’s mouth. Chat sighed in relief. He ran to her and wrapped his arms around her, “I thought I lost you.”

Ladybug patted his back, “I’m still here, Chat.”

Chat Noir released her when he realized what he was doing and smiled sheepishly. “You can’t do things like that bugaboo. My lov-” Chat quickly covered up, “--lady can’t just go jumping into mouth of a dinosaur. You sure know how to scare lives off of a cat.”

“I had to defeat the Akuma,” Ladybug protested. She would never apologize for doing what was necessary to save Paris and all of its citizens.

“By giving me a heart attack? You couldn’t give a cat a warning?” Chat Noir said. He was aware that his ring was beeping, but he ignored it.

Ladybug sighed, “I’m sorry. Next time I jump into the mouth of a dinosaur, I’ll give you a warning, so your little kitty heart won’t give out.”

“Aw bugaboo, I knew you cared for meow.” Chat Noir grinned, mockingly putting a hand on his chest. His ring beeped again. “Oops, this cat’s got to go before it jumps out of the bag.”

Ladybug shot him a deadpan look which made him smile as he waved and jumped to the nearest rooftop with his staff. He was full of relief on the way home, happily running along the parisian rooftops knowing Ladybug was okay. It wasn’t until he got home that he remembered another reason for his panic earlier.

As Adrien went to grab the stash of camembert cheese, Plagg was complaining about being on the verge of starvation and he accidently bumped into a stack of plates, almost sending them falling. Scurrying to catch them before any hit the ground, he got a glimpse of his timer and froze.

Marinette.

Distantly he could understand how he had forgotten, he was so caught up with Ladybug and the pain from the timer was so brief. But a sinking feeling settled in his gut, his best friend was in trouble and he had forgotten about it.

“Plagg, I’m the worst friend ever,” Adrien moaned as he served Plagg the cheese.

Plagg dove in on the plate, “Ah the good stuff, I’d say you’re not that bad.”

“Marinette was in trouble and I completely forgot! What do I do? Do I call her and ask if she’s okay?” Adrien continued ignoring his kwami’s comment. “Is that weird to do if I don’t even think she wants to be my friend anymore?”

Plagg sighed, “Kid, all of your mushing is ruining this cheese. Why don’t you just do what I do? Ignore everything else and focus on the cheese.”

“Plagg, I’m serious.” Adrien threw himself on the couch and sank down until he was comfortably looking at the ceiling. If only the fight was resolved, then he could call Marinette and just hear that she’s okay.

“So am I, kid. Cheese over _girl problems_ any day.” Plagg floated over to Adrien. “Why does it even matter? You know she’s okay.”

Adrien looked at his timer with its zeros and white background, just as it had always looked for as long as he could remember. If it ever turned black then the soulmate bond was broken by death, and that comes with terrible pain raking through the entire body until they recognize what had happened. Or so what his schoolbooks had told him. The pain of losing your other half forever, and Adrien thought he felt that today for what seemed like an eternity but lasted for only a few seconds.

“Yeah, she’s okay.” Adrien said softly. _But I almost lost her without mending things with us._

**Author's Note:**

> SORRY! I know it's late because I usually post on fridays and it's two weeks and two days late, but I've got so much school going on and finals. Honestly, the next one will probably be maybe two weeks too, but DON'T WORRY I'm not abandoning it. Thanks for being so patient with me and as always kudos and comments are very appreciated.


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